Catch up on this morning's headlines...

The organisers of this year’s National Ploughing Championships, at Screggan near Tullamore, deserve huge praise.

Leo Varadkar took his first bold step onto the pristine furrow — time stopped, breaths were held, and ploughing matriarch Anna May McHugh put her hands to her face in shock.

A breakfast time cocktail of Brexit, Borris, and Big Phil got the final day of the National Ploughing Championships off to a bright start at Screggan, yesterday.

The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, will stress the critical importance of free trade for both nations, when he meets with Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, next week.

Catch up on the top stories this afternoon...

It was a day for disposable ponchos, colourful brollies, designer wellies, and hoodies galore as rain lashed the National Ploughing Championships at Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, yesterday.

A single candle flickered on a counter in the headquarters of the National Ploughing Championships at Screggan in Tullamore yesterday.

The celebrities who strutted their stuff on the opening day of the national ploughing championships in Screggan, Tullamore, yesterday had plenty of competition from unexpected sources.

A top ploughman died in a farm accident in Wexford yesterday as some of his family were at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly.

Europe’s largest pop-up town was a blaze of bright lights last night as the tillage fields of Offaly awaited today’s start of the 86th National Ploughing Championships.

Europe's largest pop up town was a blaze of bright lights last night as the tillage fields of Offaly awaited today’s start of the 86th national ploughing championships.

A key element of the Garda Traffic Management plan for the three-day National Ploughing Championship, which President Michael D Higgins will officially open at Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly tomorrow, will be the Horse and Jockey junction in Co Tipperary.

The national ploughing championships were held not too far away in Screggan during the week but around Cloona, Johnstownbridge, Kilglass, Broadford, Carbury and the general west of Kildare, the most important ploughing occasion of the year takes place tomorrow week.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

THIS morning, Ireland’s great harvest festival — the National Ploughing Championships — opens on an 800-acre site in Offaly. Described as Europe’s foremost outdoor event, last year’s record attendance of 281,000 is likely to be surpassed over the next three days.

The 85th national ploughing championships in Screggan in Tullamore, Co Offaly, in two months time are going global.

An Offaly man who forced a young woman to have sex with him three times a week by threatening her with sanctions from the IRA has been jailed for nine years by Mr Justice Paul Carney.

THE world’s first sub four-minute miler, Sir Roger Bannister, was in Tullamore on Saturday to witness the first sub four-minute mile ever run on the Harriers track.